Fast start for San Jose teen's YouTube video

The 13-year-old Willow Glen Middle School eighth-grader is the star of her own video, singing a song written just for her.

Since its posting on YouTube a month ago, "Keep on Dreaming" is nearing 200,000 views and the song is selling on iTunes.

"It was pressure, but it was really fun. I've never been the center of attention like that," says Cami of her one-day video shoot.

"It was really cool. It was a good experience."

Cami's adventure began with an audition in early June, where she was one of 300 performers ages 9 to 25. The next week, she was one of 30 called back for a second audition.

Then Cami was one of five offered a deal by PMW Live, Patrice Wilson's company.

Wilson is best known for producing the video of Rebecca Black singing "Friday," which to date has racked up more than 200 million views.

Black's parents hired Wilson to write and produce a song and shoot a video for their daughter, and "Friday" was the result of that collaboration. Since then, the Blacks and Wilson have parted ways.

Marian Heinkel says she and her husband Jon paid half the cost of the video, and she considers it a good investment.

"Our main hope for this is for Cami to get exposure and maybe get signed by someone--either a record producer or talent agent. She would like to do commercials, TV, etc. in the future," Heinkel says.

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"Plus, it was fun and a great experience for her."

Cami's song was written by Jered Griffith Jones, of the Offset Season band in Las Vegas.

The song's chorus is:

I'll keep on dreaming 'til the world dreams with me,

'til I can make them believe.

I'll keep on singing 'til the world sings with me,

If we're all singing along, no one can tell us we're wrong.

Leave your fears behind, keep your hope alive,

And you will find that only love can light the way.

I'll keep on dreaming 'til the world dreams with me,

So just close your eyes, and keep the dream alive.

"I wanted it to have a positive message and be upbeat, but the main thing was a positive message," Cami says of the song. "It was perfect."

The song was recorded in July at Different Fur Studios in San Francisco with Wilson producing.

Next came the video shoot, complete with a stylist, hair and makeup artist for Cami.

It lasted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and included the opening scenes at Cami's home, a walk through a playground, a walk along Lincoln Avenue and cheerleading tryouts, ending at Thousand Oaks Park.

Throughout the video, Cami is encouraging and a positive influence to everyone she interacts with.

Cami helps a little girl, played by her cousin, reach the monkey bars by lifting her up.

Cami gives a headshake warning to a teen picking up a wallet that mysteriously falls out of the pocket of Pierluigi Oliverio as he walks along Lincoln Avenue. When the young man returns the wallet to Oliverio, he's rewarded with a big smile from the city councilman, who opens his wallet and hands him a roll of bills with a $20 bill on top.

Throughout the video, Cami gives folded up notes to those she interacts with--the little girl, the boy who does the right thing and the discouraged cheerleader who makes a mistake in tryouts.

The notes read: "I'll keep on dreaming till the world dreams with me, 'til I can make them believe."

So far, Cami's video has garnered more than 211,000 views and close to 1,000 comments.

"I've been reading them," Cami says. "They don't offend me; I don't take them seriously. It's just people on YouTube commenting on Patrice Wilson. I don't take it seriously."

Her mother is less sanguine about it. "We were really concerned about how mean people were and my older kids felt this was too much pressure on her, but she really wanted to do it," Heinkel says.

"It's harder for me to read the stuff than it is for her. If you look at other Patrice Wilson videos, you'll see mean comments on those. Cami knows it's people who are jealous and have nothing better to do."